Archive for November, 2003

If you want a quick laugh, then take a look at the ad spoofs at macboy.com. To understand the latest one, you have to know who Steve Balmer is (CEO of Microsoft and major @#$% moron who can’t produce a decent product … sorry [NOT] for the rant) and have watched the recent iPod commercials.

Anyways, to see the spoof, and get a quick laugh (quick depending on your bandwidth – it’s a 640KB download), take a look here: macboy.com ballmer spoof

Ok, this is temporary until I can get everything redesigned. And yes, I know it has been quite a long while, and I’ve been saying it for that long while, but I WILL DO IT!! Updated 11/10/2003 Ok, please forgive me, all you poor windows users who are using the incompetant browser known as Internet Explorer which can’t even handle decent web standards support. I’ll try and keep you in mind when designing my site, but please, if something looks really funky, either A) switch to a decent web browser (on windows, look here: Mozilla Project) or B) email me.

Ok, I’ve done a few updates. I’m still playing with the header though. Feel free to drop me an email, say what you think. I can be reached here: mcintosh_nospam_poetshome.com. A few of the updates to take a look at include the Poetry listing over on the left – feel free to drop me an email and comment on any of them

UPDATED – 11/11/2003 – Updated to use a php and mysql system. Feel free to email me if you’d like a copy of the code, under the GPL license. It’s no where near complete, as I’m aiming for a full BLOG system.

For all those out there with allstate insurance, can I make the suggestion that you SWITCH NOW. I tend to be a loyal customer on any given product, provided the product or service lasts and is a good product. Allstate has been a pretty good insurance provider for the last 6 or 7 years. However, here in the last few months, several MAJOR problems have occurred.

First sometime early this year, my insurance agent had changed to Dean Arthaud. This is in Columbia, MO for all those curious. My agent has changed before and I didn’t think much of it at the time.

Shortly after the above, I purchased a new car. It might have been around the same time, but I remember after purchasing it telling allstate all the lovely details, and insuring both my old and current car. The major hassle here, is that upon going in to sign for all the details and figure things out, Dean couldn’t figure out how to type on a computer, enter my information, etc. worth anything. I mean totally got the feeling of incompetance, like I knew his system and how it worked better than he did. NOT a good feeling. I stuck with them, having been an old allstate person, but I was kinda worried. Part of this was he kept having problems, i.e. unable to change some of the rates properly, unable to complete my insurance, etc. etc. Eventually, I thought he had it all figured out, but it took over an hour, and I was pretty annoyed.

A few weeks later, I get a mail from my bank, stating they hadn’t received any information from my insurance company. The ohhhh so lovely allstate insurance people hadn’t sent in the information to the Lien holder – my bank.

I contact Allstate, a little irritated, and ask them to fax over the information.

A few months later, my old car (which I’d sold to my brother, but was still paying the insurance on, as he was unable to drive or make use of it), I switched off the policy on it as my brother took it over. Keep in mind, I contacted allstate, and CONFIRMED that it was the SUNFIRE that was removed from my policy.

Shortly thereafter, I get another lovely letter in the mail, stating that my bank received notice that the policy covering my Trans Am was canceled. I was VERY irritated, as this was the third screw up now from Allstate. I called, and my policy wasn’t canceled, although allstate confirmed that was what they sent to my bank. That instance was more than enough for me to say enough was enough.

I start looking around, trying to find a better rate. You know, go through all the online “enter your information so we can figure out whether we can insure you” kinda stuff. Low and behold, several other insurers are equivalent, if not better in rate. My choice? I decided to try State Farm. They had one of the more detailed, and powerful web systems (at times confusing, but overall impressively well done), and more importantly, they had the lowest “bid”.

So, my decision made, I call allstate, and tell them to cancel at the end of the month. Guess what, like any good used car salesman (well, just insurance salesman), Dean’s all “we can get you a better deal” and “they’ll screw you if you switch, trust me” and “we really have the best rates, you just don’t see it yet” type shit. I’m NOT impressed with his attitude, behavior, etc. However, back to that whole loyalty thing, I say ok, see what you can get me.

He comes back and says their insurance “underwriters” can’t insure me, and that actually the rate I had was incorrect. I was currently locked in on it, but I should have been paying about 2000 every six months. Let’s just say that’s almost DOUBLE what I had been paying, and not in line. That’s when “they won’t be any better, offer a better rate, etc.” came out. I promptly ended the conversation, not very happy, and called State Farm.

Switch to Thursday on the 30th. I walked into State Farm’s office, unsure of what to expect. I’d called a couple of times to verify the quote, figure out what was going on, etc. Interestingly enough, each time, they had no problems pulling up my records, information, figuring out what I was looking for. I was much more impressed with their overall knowledge.

Now, here’s the fun part: Guess what? No problems, they give me the exact rate as said over the phone. It’s SIGNIFICANTLY less than what I was paying at allstate. Further, they’re very professional, know what they’re doing, etc. I was MUCH more impressed overall. Their price was slightly higher than my online quote, which has to do with my credit rating (which is very confusing, as I should have perfect credit). Regardless, the overall treatment was amazing. I was in and out in a few minutes, had everything taken care of, easy as can be. Let’s just say, WOW.

Here’s a major issue, dealing with our right to vote, and some problems with electronic voting. Electronic voting, if done right, could be an amazing system. However, right now, it’s not being done right. Look here for more info:

Apple released iTunes for both winblows and mac. I HIGHLY recommend this software, as it probably has the cleanest interface of any music player I’ve seen, as well as some of the nicest features for importing, burning, etc. Last, it just works, no hitches, no extra downloads, etc. Get it here:

Aside from that, here’s a link for some Tori Amos through the iTunes music store. (Tori is one of my favorite artists)